1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate at least to a system, medium, and method to guide/conduce a user's breathing. More particularly, such a system, medium, and method may detect a user's exhaling sound signal and/or an ambient temperature change during breathing, and then generate respiratory information from analyzing such sensor data. If this respiratory information is different from normal respiratory information of the user, e.g., at a normal non-stressed state, a user may be presented with information to help adjust his or her breathing to be closer to the normal non-stressed state.
2. Description of the Related Art
As ubiquitous-related technologies have recently been highlighted, the ubiquitous technology field using portable terminals has also been advancing every day. Particularly, a Ubiquitous (U)-Health Care has recently been in the spotlight as a remarkable technology field owing to a recent health craze and “well-being” phenomenon among people. Ubiquitous (U)-Health Care refers to a ubiquitous technology in which chips or sensors associated with a medical service are installed at various living spaces of the human being so that all the people can be naturally provided with medical services anytime and anywhere. According to such a Ubiquitous Health Care, health care in hospitals including various kinds of health diagnoses, disease management, emergency management, consultation with a doctor, etc., can be naturally implemented in each person's daily life without having to actually visit the hospital.
A causal link has been found between some diseases and stress, e.g., stress generated by people's busy daily lives. In almost all these cases, people breathe more rapidly and irregularly as compared to their normal breathing habits. In this case, they may attempt to modify their breathing to conform to a normal respiratory cycle or take deep breaths so that only their parasympathetic nerves are activated, so as to conduce psychological stability, and thereby reduce stress.
As such, since stress derives from various sources, normal respiration is very important for prevention and reduction of stress. In this regard, the inventors have found that there is a need for a portable system that may measure a user's respiratory state, determine whether the user may be under stress based on the user's respiratory state, and then help conduce stable normal breathing if necessary, as the part of the Ubiquitous Health Care.